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Prerequisites: None

Course Description

 At no point during the last half century has there been a more important time to understand academic freedom (AF). In this class we will consider how AF works for faculty, students and institutions. While primarily focused on American AF, we will place it in a comparative context, both with respect to AF in other countries, and vis-à-vis similar privileges granted to other professions (e.g. lawyers, doctors) in the US. We will also consider how AF relates to broader free speech issues, and discuss whether there is a distinct argument to be made for a separate set of rights which give AF legal weight in the US context.

 The class will frame AF in the US as an “essentially contested concept,” with adherents of (at least) three distinct approaches: professional, epistemic, and critical.  We will discuss the application of these three approaches to research, teaching, intramural expression and extramural speech.

 We will consider different phenomena that plausibly pose challenges to AF, including internal constraints (e.g. actions by university administrators, as well as epistemic and non-epistemic norms) and external interventions (e.g. private philanthropy, state action, and social media commentary). While we will discuss contemporary events, the focus of the class will be on developing a rigorous framework for understanding the trajectory and impact of AF over time.

PSC 300 m101 Policy Implementation

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